USA > Minnesota > Renville County > The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93
The Farmers State Bank of Sacred Heart was organized November 28, 1888, and opened its doors for business the same year. Edward O'Connor was the president and Mary O'Connor the eashier. In 1905 this institution was sold to other stockhold- ers. In 1909 it was repurchased by the O'Connor Brothers' inter- ests. In the meantime the Citizens State Bank of Sacred Heart had been organized. This institution was absorbed by the Farmers State Bank interests in 1912. The officers of the consolidated institution in 1912 were: President, Timothy O'Connor: vice president, William O'Connor; second vice president. W. H. Cheney : cashier. 11. 6. Omholt : directors. William and Timothy O'Connor, W. II. Cheeney. A. O. Skrukrud and H. O. Agre. The present officers are : President. Edward O 'Connor ; vice president, Timothy O'Connor; cashier, Oscar Olufson; directors, William, Edward and Timothy O 'Connor. H. O. Agre and A. O. Skrukrud.
A private bank was organized at Buffalo Lake in 1893 by the O'Connor Brothers under the name of the Bank of Buffalo Lake. The officers were: President. Edward O'Connor ; vice president, Timothy O 'Connor ; cashier, F. G. Nellermoe. In 1895 the O Con- nor Brothers sold out their interests in this bank, but Mr. Neller- moe still remains its moving faetor. It is now known as the State Bank of Buffalo Lake.
The Olivia State Bank was organized by the O'Connor Broth- ers in 1895, with Edward O'Connor as president : William Wina- horst as vice president : P. II. Kirwan as cashier. Timothy O'Con- nor as well as Edward was heavily interested. The ( 'Connor interests have been sold, but M. J. Dowling, one of the original stockholders. is now the active head of the institution.
The Bank of Miles was organized by the O'Connor Brothers in 1902 with Timothy O'Connor as president ; William O'Connor as vice president ; and Halvor J. Lee as cashier. For a time Hans Gronnerud was connected with the bank. It is now the Dannbe State Bank.
The O'Connor Brothers' State Bank of Renville is the largest in the county. It was organized September 3. 1912, with Timothy O'Connor as president; Edward O'Connor as vice president : William O'Connor as eashier : Robert K. Stuart as assistant cash- ier; and C. D. Beck, also as assistant cashier; with Edward, Tim- othy and William O'Connor as directors. The bank opened its doors September 4. 1912, with a capital and surplus of $50,000. The present building, started in 1911 and completed and ready
721
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
for business September 3, 1912, is the finest banking house in the county. The present offieers are the same as at the beginning.
Thus it will be seen that the O'Connor Brothers were active in starting six of the present banking institutions of the county : The Renville State Bank, of Renville; the O'Connor Brothers" State Bank, of Renville; the Farmers State Bank, of Sacred Heart ; the State Bank of Buffalo Lake; the Olivia State Bank, of Olivia ; and the Danube State Bank.
The North Dakota interests of the O'Connor Brothers have been extensive and varied. Beginning in 1907 and eontinning to 1910, the brothers, Timothy, Edward and William, erected ele- vators along the line of the Northern Pacifie at Beach, Wiebow, Belfield, South Heart and Antelope, all in North Dakota, these five elevators being the first to be built on that railroad west of the Missouri river. The opening of these elevators was the be- ginning of the grain dealing industry in what has now become one of the richest wheat regions of the world. In 1907. Timothy, Edward and William organized the First National Bank of Bel- field, with Edward as president ; R. C. Davis as vice president ; J. O. Milsten as cashier ; and Edward and William O'Connor and J. O. Milsten, R. C. Davis and Anton Anderson as directors. These brothers also, under the name of the Belfield Land and Investment Company, with Edward O'Connor as president ; Will- iam O'Connor as vice president ; T. O. Ramsland as secretary and treasurer, and Edward, William and Timothy O'Connor as direc- tors, secured control of 50,000 acres of North Dakota land, and in the five years following the organization, the land company soll some 158,000 aeres to Belgians and Hollanders whom they induced to come to America and settle in the Northwest. In 1910 the O'Connor Brothers' interests in part at Belfieldl were sold to the Holland-Dakota Landbouw Compagnie, a syndicate of wealthy Hollanders and Belgians. The O'Connor Brothers still own part of the townsite of Bolfield.
The O'Connor Realty Company was organized in 1909 with the following officers: President, William O'Connor; secretary and treasurer, Timothy O'Connor. The O'Connor Land Company was organized in 1911 with the following officers : Edward O'Con- nor, president ; Timothy O'Connor, secretary, and William O'Con- nor, treasurer. In addition to this. Timothy and William O Con- nor own some 4,000 acres of land. The State Experimental Station is using the farm near Renville as a demonstration farm.
In 1910 the O'Connor Brothers organized the Holland-Amer- ican Bank of South Heart, North Dakota; with Edward O'Connor as president ; William O'Connor, vice president ; and E. 1. Facey as eashier. This bank was sold in 1910. In 1912 the brothers purchased control of the Devils Lake State Bank of Devils Lake, North Dakota, with Edward O'Connor as president : William
722
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
O'Connor as vice president; and John Thompson as cashier. Edward O 'Connor is now the president of this institution.
In 1913 the O'Connor Brothers organized the MeGrath State Bank at MeGrath, Minnesota, with the following officers: Presi- dent, Edward O 'Connor ; vice president, William O 'Connor; cash- ier, H. J. Kirwan ; directors, R. K. Stuart, C. D. Beck and Edward, William and Timothy O'Connor.
Thus is briefly told the business career of as remarkable a group of men as ever came into the county. Starting as poor boys, they have by native ability, shrewdness, generosity, and hard work achieved their present high position as leaders not only finance and business but in public influence and matured thought as well.
In developing a part of North Dakota they did a service to their country, and in developing Renville county they have like- wise had a prominent part. The improvements on their farms are the talk of the state and are widely praised, and their farming operations are a revelation in the possibilities of Renville county rural life.
Publie spirited in every way, every worthy movement finds in them warm supporters, and their influence and their financial help is given freely to every good cause. The extent of their private benefactions will never be known and almost countless are the men and boys who have been quietly given a helping hand at many a critical period of life.
The. brothers are cordial, successful, clean-eut, constructive men and useful citizens, and the country is truly the better for their living in it.
A sample of their faith in the future of the county is the splendid building which houses the financial institution of the ('Connor Brothers' Bank at Renville. It is a model of its kind, sunshiny and airy, and absolutely secure, an architectural beauty, and a source of pride to the village, while the geniality of the banking staff makes patron and visitor alike feel immediately welcome and at home.
723
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
CHAPTER XXX.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
His Ethics and Ideals-The Pioneer Physician-His Devotion and Courage-Men Who Have Practiced in Renville County-Pres- ent Physicians-Camp Release District Medical Society-Pre- pared with the Assistance of F. L. Puffer, M. D.
"Men most nearly resemble the gods when they afford health to their fellow-men."
In an age when, in the combat of man against man, heroes are worshiped according to the number they stay in battle, it is in- spiring and elevating to be permitted to pay tribute to the men who won glory in fighting disease and through whose devotion and skill thousands of useful lives have been saved and been made happy.
"For every man slain by Caesar, Napoleon and Grant in all their bloody campaigns, Jenner, Pasteur and Lister have saved alive a thousand." The first anaesthetic has done more for the real happiness of mankind than all the philosophers from Socrates to Mills. Society laurels the soldier and the philosopher, and practically ignores the physician except in the hour when it needs him to minister to its physical ills. Few remember his labors, for what Sir Thomas Browne said three hundred years ago is surely true : "The iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit to perpetuity."
"Medicine is the most cosmopolitan of the three great 'learned' professions. Medicine never built a prison or lit a fagot, never incited men to battle or crucified anyone. Saint and sinner, white, black, rieh and poor, are equal and alike when they cross the sacred portals of the temple of Æseulapius." No other secu- lar profession has ever reached such a consciousness of duties which it corporately owes to the rest of the world. What are the principles which a profession, more profuse in its disinter- ested charities than any other profession in the world, has estab- lished for its guidance ?
It was about 2,300 years ago that the practitioners of the art of healing began to take an oath, emphasizing the responsibilities which the mobility and holiness of the art imposed upon them. Hippocrates. forever to be revered, gave the oath his name. When a Greek physician took the Hippocratic oath, and a graduate of the modern medical school takes it, the act is one not only of obligation for himself, but of recognition of a great benefactor of mankind. The Hippocratic oath assumes that when a man
724
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
has learned the art of restoring the sick to health he has passed into a realm in which the rules of personal selfishness are im- mediately abridged, if not expunged; and he is received in a system of principles and rules governing all licensed physicians, and enforced and respeeted by high-minded and cultured gentle- men-a standard of professional honor so sacred and inviolate that no graduate or regular practitioner will ever presume or dare to violate it.
Robert Louis Stevenson, seeing the life of the medical man only from without, was not far wrong when he spoke of the modern scientifie medical man as probably the noblest figure of the age. The noble and exalted character of the ancient profes- sion of medicine is surpassed by no sister science in the mag- niticence of its gifts. Refleeting upon its purity, beneficence and grandeur, it must be accorded to be the noblest of professions. Though the noblest of professions, it is the meanest of trades. The true physician will make his profession no trade, but will be aceurate in diagnosis and painstaking in prescribing. He will allow no prejudice nor theory to interfere with the reliel of human suffering and the saving of human life; and will lay under contribution every source of information, be it humble or ex- alted, that ean be made useful in the cure of disease. He will be kind to the poor, sympathetic with the sick, ethical toward medical colleagues, and courteous toward all men.
The true physician is he who has a proper conception and estimation of the real character of his profession; whose intel- lectual and moral fitness gives weight, standing and character in the consideration and estimation of society and the public at large. Ilis privileges and powers for good or for evil are great ; in faet, no other profession, calling or vocation in this life occu- pies such a delicate relation to the human family.
There is a tremendous developing and educating power in medical work. The medical man is almost the only member of the community who does not make money out of his important discoveries. It is a point of honor with him to allow the whole world to profit by his researches when he finds a new remedy for disease. The greatest and best medieal and surgical diseov- eries and inventions have been free gifts to suffering humanity the moment their value was demonstrated. The reward of the physician is in the benefit which the sick and helpless receive, and in the gratitude, which should not be stinted, of the com- munity at large. Medieal men are not angels ; they are, in fact, very human creatures with hard work to do, and often many months to feed: but there is a strain of benevolence in all their work. From the beginning they are taught a doctrine of help- fulness to others, and are made to think that their life-work should not be one in which every service must receive its pecun-
725
IHISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
iary reward. The physician is a host in himself, a natural leader among his fellow-men, a center of influence for the most prac- tical good, an efficient helper in times of direst need, a trusted and honest citizen. What more can any prophet ask than honor in his own country and a daily welcome among his own friends ?
It does not take long for the waves of oblivion to close over those who have taken a most prominent and active part in the affairs of the day. The life of the pioneer doctor is no exception to this law, for, as Dr. Jolm Browne tells us, "It is the lot of the successful medical practitioner to be invalnable when alive, and to be forgotten soon after he is dead; and this is not altogether or chiefly from any special ingratitude or injustice on the part of mankind, but from the very nature of the case." However, the pioneer physician still lives in memory of many of us. though he is now more rare as an individual than in the years gone by, and is gradually passing out of existence.
The history, written and unwritten, of the pioneer physician in Renville county, as elsewhere, presents him to view as working out the destiny of the wilderness, hand in hand with the other forces of civilization for the common good. He was an integral part of the primitive social fabric. As such he shared the man- ners, the eustoms, and the ambitions of his companions, and he, with them, was controlled by the forces which determine the com- mon destiny. The chief concern of himself and companions was materially engaged with the serious problem of existence. The struggle to survive was, at its best, a competition with nature. Hard winters, poor roads were the chief impediments. Only rough outlines remain of the heroic and adventurous side of the pioneer physician's long, active and honored life. The imagina- tion cannot, unaided by the facts, pietnre the primitive condi- tions he had to contend with. Long and dreary rides, by day and 'night. in summer's heat and winter's cold, through snow, and mnd and rain, was his common lot. Ile trusted himself to the mercy of the elements, crossed unbridged streams, made his way through uneut forests, and traveled the roadless wilderness. Hle spent one-fifth of his life in his conveyance, and in some cases traveled as many as two hundred thousand miles in the same.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has graphically described the old doctor's daily routine: "Half a dollar a visit-drive, drive, drive all day ; get up in the night and harness your own horse- drive again ten miles in a snowstorm; shake powders out of a vial-drive back again, if you don't happen to be stuck in a drift ; no home, no peace, no continuons meals, no unbroken sleep, no Sunday, no holiday, no social intercourse, but eternal jog. jog. jog in a sulky."
He always responded to the call of the poor, and gave freely his services to those who could not pay without hardship. Who
726
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
ean narrate the past events in the life of such a man? ILis deeds were "written upon the tablets of loving and grateful hearts, and the hearts are now dust. The long and exhausting rides through storm, or mud, or snow; the exposure to contagions ; the patient vigils by the bedside of pain; the kindly deeds of charity ; the reassuring messages to the despondent; the shield- ing of the innocent; the guarding of secrets; the numberless self-abnegations that cannot be tabulated, and are soon for- gotten, like the roses of yesterday." Wealth did not flow into the old practitioner's coffers; in fact, he needed no eoffers. He was a poor collector, and with all his efforts he obtained but little, and never what was his due. As an offset to the generally acknowledged abilities of the old doctor in every other line of his work, it must also be admitted that he was greatly deficient in business taet. Often content with the sentiment of apparent appreciation of services rendered to his patrons, of lives saved, of sufferings assuaged, and of health restored, he was too easily satisfied with the reflection that he had a very noble profession, but a very poor trade.
Though poor in purse, he was rich in heart, in head, and in publie esteem. Ile made at least a very measurable success of life, if suecess consists in being of some small use to the com- munity or country in which one lives: if it consists in having an intelligent, sympathetic outlook for human needs: if it is suceess to love one's work; if it is success to have friends and be a friend, then the old doctor has made a success of life.
lle was a lonely worker, and relied largely on his own un- aided observation for his knowledge. Isolated by conditions of his life, he did not know the educating influences of society work. lle was a busy man, with little leisure for the indulgence of tit- erary or other tastes. He possessed, however, what no books or laboratories can furnish. and that is: a capacity for work, will- ingness to be helpful, broad sympathies, honesty, and a great deal of common sense. His greatest fame was the fealty of a few friends : his recompense a final peace at life's twilight hour. He was a hard-working man, beloved and revered by all. Ile was discreet and silent, and held his counsel when he entered the sick-room. In every family he was indispensable, important, and oftentimes a dignified personage. Ile was the adviser of the family in matters not always purely medical. As time passed, the circle of his friends enlarged, his brain expanded, and his heart steadily grew mellower. Could all the pleasant, touching, heroie incidents be told in connection with the old doctor. it would be a revelation to the young physician of today ; but he can never know the admiration and love in which the old doctor was held. "Ilow like an angel light was his coming in the stormy midnight to the lonely cabin miles away from the nearest neigh-
727
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
bor. Earnest, cheery, confident, his presence lightened the bur- den, took away the responsibility, dispelled the gloom. The old doctor, with his two-wheeled gig and saddlebags, his setons, crude herbs, and venesections, resourceful, brave and true ; busy, blunt and honest loyally doing his best-who was physician surgeon, obstetrician, oculist. aurist, guide, philosopher and friend-is sleeping under the sod of the pioneer region he loved so well."
"We shall ne'er see his like again; Not a better man was found By the Crier on his round Through the town."
Several of the pioneer farmers of Renville county had re- ceived more or less medical education and practice to a certain extent among their neighbors. Before the massacre the early settlers had the advantage of medical service from the Upper and Lower Agencies from Ft. Ridgely and from New Ulm. After the massacre, many of the settlers continued to avail themselves of the services of the surgeon of Ft. Ridgely and of the physi- cians at New Ulm.
Two of the old-time physicians of Renville county did not live in this county, but across the river in Redwood Falls, from which place they attended a large practice in Renville county.
R. L. Ilitchcock came to Redwood Falls in 1865 and started practice. lle was a gifted public speaker and was often called on to address audiences at Beaver Falls on various subjects.
W. D. Flinn also came to Redwood Falls at an early date. and practiced extensively in Renville county. Both of these pioneer physicians lived to a good old age.
J. B. Welcome, of Sleepy Eye, also had a few patients in Renville county in the seventies.
Dr. T. H. Sherwin practiced in Beaver Falls for some years, and was probably the first practitioner to be regularly located here. He was not, however, a regular physician, and had no medical education except what he had picked up as a hospital steward during the Civil war in 1861-65.
Two of the early and prominent farmer-physicians of Ren- ville county were Dr. H. Schoregge, who came to Henryville in 1870; and Dr. C. S. Knapp, who came to Cairo in 1871.
Dr. Willis Clay, Dr. Wesley Smalley and Dr. F. L. Puffer had many thrilling experiences as pioneer physicians in Renville county. One incident told by Dr. Puffer illustrates some of the hardships they had to endure in their work of relieving the dis- tressed.
On the evening of Friday. Oct. 15, 1880, Dr. Puffer was called to give medical attention in a farm house seventeen miles from his home. He hitched up, and after a long ride over the dismal
-
728
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
prairies reached his destination. When he arose in the morning he found that all travel was completely blocked by a great storm, nearly two feet of snow falling between Friday evening and Sat- urday night. He was thus snowbound at the home of his patient and it was a week before he could get back home. Traffie was blocked on the II. & D. for over five days. In February and Mareh. 1881. the railroad was blockaded for forty days. The doctors found it impossible to get their horses through the snow, and often they walked long distances to visit their patients. Dr. Puffer sometimes trudged through the snow and drifts for eight or ten miles to attend to cases, and Dr. Clay and Dr. Smalley did the same.
What a picture of devotion to duty is brought before the mind as we see the solitary figure making its way across the bleak prairie. Snow lies everywhere, often there is no track of any kind, sometimes the thermometer is below zero, yet we see the self-sacrificing doctor keeping on his way, his little case in his hand, suffering the greatest of bodily and mental discomforts himself in order that illness might be alleviated, anguish soothed and lives saved.
Present Physicians. The present physicians of Renville county are as follows : Sacred Heart, F. L. Hammerstrand : Renville, Ed. M. Clay, J. H. Preisinger, and L. T. Franeis; Dambe, W. C. Dieterich ; Olivia, A. A. Passer and G. F. Mesker ; Bird Island, F. L. Puffer and R. C. Adams: Hector, H. L. D'Arms and H. U. Mckibben; Buffalo Lake, C. K. Gaines; Fairfax, G. H. Walker and William P. Lee: Franklin, H. B. Cole: Morton, F. W. Pen- hall.
Bird Island. Frank L. Puffer, M. D., practitioner and a man of affairs, now a leading citizen of Bird Island, was born in Rens- selaer Falls, St. Lawrence county, New York, April 29, 1852, son of La Fayette W. and Rosamond B. (Riee) Puffer. The father, who was a New York farmer, was born at Rensselaer Falls, New York. Nov. 13, 1825, was married Dec. 24, 1846, and died there April 15, 1902. The mother was born in Rensselaer Falls, July 12, 1825, and now lives in Adams, New York. After attaining the usual preparatory education in the public schools of this neighborhood, Frank L. Puffer entered the St. Lawrence Uni- versity at Canton, N. Y., leaving there in 1872. Then from 1873 to 1875 he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In 1876 he entered the Medical College of Columbia University, New York city, from which he graduated with the degree of M. D. March 1, 1877. His first practice was at Taylor Falls, Chisago connty, this state. In 1878 he came to Renville county and lo- cated at Beaver Falls. Since 1881 he has been in practice in Bird Island. He is a skilled practitioner, and is the family phy- sician of hundreds of families for miles around, some of whom
F. L. PUFFER, M.D.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
729
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
he has attended for over thirty-five years. Dr. Puffer has taken a deep interest in many public affairs outside of his profession. Among such ventures may be mentioned the State Bank of Bird Island, which he assisted to organize as a private bank in 1899 and which was incorporated as a state bank in 1908, he being its only president up to the present time. He helped to organize the High school system, and has served on the board of education twenty years. For five years he was village recorder. Frater- nally, he is associated with Bird Island Lodge No. 144, A. F. & A. M., Bird Island Chapter No. 40 Order of Eastern Star, the Bird Island Commercial Club and the Minneapolis Athletic Club. Dr. Puffer was married April 29, 1879, to Anna b. Ellison, who was born Jan. 1, 1853, in Marine, IN., and died April 5, 1911, in Bird Island, leaving two children, Florence E., born April 9, 1880, and Howard A., born April 7, 1884. Her parents were John Elli- son, who was born in Long Island, N. Y., and died in 1890 at the age of seventy-six, and Elizabeth (Danford) Ellison, who was born in Hlinois, and died in 1893 at the age of seventy-eight. Feb. 27, 1913, Dr. Puffer married Ida Julson, who was born in Winfield township, Renville county.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.